Erfan Alizadeh
Direct gunshot wounds inflicted by government security forces responding to protests
During the protest in Varamin on 8 January 2026, Iranian security forces — including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other state units — employed live ammunition against crowds of demonstrators. According to human rights monitoring, Erfan was shot at point-blank range or from close proximity during these engagements. The use of live bullets on unarmed civilians has been widely condemned and documented as a violation of international human rights standards
Biography
Erfan Alizadeh was a 24-year-old Kurdish man from Lumar village in Sirvan County, Ilam Province, western Iran. Like many young Iranians, Erfan took part in the nationwide protests that erupted in late December 2025 and spread across the country, driven by public anger at political repression and deteriorating living conditions. On 8 January 2026, Erfan was killed by direct gunfire from state security forces while protesting with others in Varamin, a city near Tehran. His death is part of a broader pattern of lethal force used against largely unarmed demonstrators during this period
Erfan was born and raised in Lumar, a rural community in Sirvan County, Ilam Province — a region with a significant Kurdish population that has seen repeated waves of protest and unrest over the years. At 24, he was part of a generation of young Iranians frustrated by limited economic opportunities, political restrictions, and systemic inequality. When nationwide demonstrations against government policies and repression peaked in early 2026, Erfan joined the crowds in Varamin — a city outside Tehran where many protesters from across Iran converged. There, he was shot by security forces using live ammunition. Reports from human rights groups, including Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, have highlighted Erfan’s case among others to document the scale of civilian deaths in the crackdown.
Additional Information
Sources & References
Five Kurdish people — Golaleh Mahmoudi Azar from Mahabad, Zahra Moradi and Siavash Shirzad from Bukan, Erfan Alizadeh from Lumar in Sirvan County, and Ali Abbasi from Gilan-e Gharb (Gilan) — were killed in Tehran after being shot directly by Iranian government forces during protests in the city1 hengaw.net Open source
Since late December 2025 Iranian state security forces have engaged in massacres of dissidents during the 2025–2026 Iranian protests2 en.wikipedia.org Open source
The world needs to know what’s happening’: families of protesters killed in Iran tell of heartbreak3 theguardian.com Open source